Teal'c marched swiftly down the corridor, deaf to the angry curses trailing behind him. He left the infuriating task of dragging Apophis' newest female through the halls to his subordinates, and focused instead on the oddity he had found on her home world. It was the second of Ra's holdings Teal'c had explored with his god. When Ra's disappearance grew so prolonged that the System Lords believed his death, Apophis had been quick to claim and survey his rival's holdings.
Their first exploration had discovered a strange world, unlike any Teal'c had ever seen. The stone room he had stepped into was no temple to Ra, no celebration of his exalted glory. It had been dark, nearly forgotten despite the soldiers left to protect it. With one look, Teal'c had known they were not Jaffa. They were neither large nor strong, and yet their vehement defense of their realm—and the woman caught in Apophis' snare—had surprised him.
And their weaponry had been alien, yet more advanced than he had seen used by any people lorded by the Goa'uld. For good reason: though all the soldiers had been slain, two Jaffa had fallen in the fight. Such weaponry was a threat to the gods. How then could Ra have allowed them to develop such effective means of defending themselves?
It had been stranger yet to see those same weapons on a world even more primitive than the last, in hands of children who possessed the same defiance as those soldiers in the great stone room. It was that defiance that now shouted and cursed at him in the guise of a small desert woman. How were these two worlds, so different, connected?
With these thoughts he led the female into the harem. Within, every woman fell still at the sight of him. They watched him with wide, fearful eyes, waiting for him to make his selection. But Apophis had not called for a potential host, and Teal'c simply motioned for his Jaffa to release the prisoner.
They did so immediately, and the woman tripped at the unexpected freedom. She would have tumbled down the shallow steps into the room but for the quick dash of another woman. He recognized the figure immediately—though she was now properly attired, and her hair styled with the same care as the other prisoners, Teal'c saw the courage that had so taken him aback in that strange first world she had been stolen from.
The golden-haired woman caught the desert girl before injury could befall her. Blue eyes glared at the guards' carelessness, and Teal'c was again taken by the startling clarity of them. The color of the sky, they burned with a fire he had never seen before. It was a spirit that now burned in the gaze of the dark-haired woman in her arms, who stared at her captors in defiance.
Teal'c observed them wordlessly. A glint of reflected light caught his attention, drawing his focus to a charm dangling from a fair skinned neck. As he looked at it, its purpose eluded him. Most baubles worn by females were intricate or bold, meant to catch the eye of suitors. But this—to his eye it seemed dull, and plain. It was nothing more than a flat segment of metal that did not seem to serve any religious or practical purpose.
As he watched, the women rose to their feet. The tab disappeared into the folds of the woman's gown, and Teal'c drew his thoughts back to the present. He turned his gaze back to the rest of the women, who shrank away from his sight in a manner he was much more accustomed to seeing.
"Prepare her," he commanded.
Not another word was said, by himself or the prisoners, but Teal'c knew his will would be done. Slaves would soon come to bathe and clothe their god's newest acquisition, and perhaps the more docile in the harem would instruct these two women on the virtues of demure obedience to their god.
Teal'c left, making his way down the opulent corridor with Jaffa in tow. Hearing the growing chatter of soft voices start up again, he let them fade away, so that his thoughts may wander. The image of the two women together lingered in his mind, confounding him with the similarities between them. Like their respective worlds, they were vastly different. And like their respective peoples, they shared the same dangerous spirit.
Alone, either of them could create problems for him. Together, they could very well bring about their own demise.